Compact Premium Vehicle from Infiniti Moves Ahead with Development in Europe

• Infiniti ends feasibility study over third-party manufacturing
• All-new model will be manufactured in-house in European facility
• All engineering and development work continues on schedule, with start of production in 2015

Paris - Infiniti is moving ahead with plans to develop a compact premium vehicle with a scheduled launch in 2015.

Infiniti intends to manufacture the vehicle in-house in a European production plant. The company will announce a production location and more product details closer to the start of production.

Infiniti still intends for the all-new compact premium vehicle to share a platform developed with Mercedes. The expanding partnership between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler, which began in 2010, includes powertrain and platform sharing, joint development of fuel-efficient vehicles and other projects worldwide.

Infiniti began a feasibility study with supplier Magna Steyr in May this year to determine a possible third-party production site in Europe for the premium compact Infiniti. However, Infiniti ended the feasibility study this week and has decided to produce the vehicle in-house in a European production facility as part of the brand’s overall expansion production plans.

All design, engineering and development work continues on schedule.